College is to freeze fees for non-EU and postgraduate students for the coming academic year.
Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Leah Keogh announced the news, saying that College Board “voted with us to secure a fee freeze”.
A proposal to increase fees for postgraduate and non-EU students was brought to College Board this morning, drawing criticism from TCDSU and student campaign group Students4Change (S4C).
In a statement earlier today, TCDSU repeated calls for a sustainable funding model “that isn’t reliant on student funds”, noting that “as long as College continues to dip into the student pocket, the government will continue to underfund them.”
Four student representatives currently sit on College Board, Trinity’s governing body: Keogh, TCDSU Education Officer Bev Genockey, TCDSU Welfare and Equality Officer Sierra Mueller-Owens, and the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU) President Gisèle Scanlon
The union said that it would “be advocating for a complete freeze of fees” at the meeting, and asked their counterparts on the College Board to support this.
Speaking to Trinity News, Keogh said: “We were delighted to secure a fee freeze for non-EU and postgraduate students at Board this morning after months of meetings, applying the pressure.”
“We will continue to reject the commercialisation of education, insisting that College remove barriers to entry whilst keeping the pressure on the government to invest in the sector.”
During her election campaign last year, Provost Linda Doyle promised that fees for international students would not increase during her tenure.
The 2021-21 tuition fees for full-time undergraduate non-EU students range from €20,003 to €37,613, depending on course, while their EU counterparts pay €3000 in student contribution.
Fees for full-time postgraduate study range from €3,280 to €35,800, with fees significantly higher for non-EU students.
